ICE ICE BABY
Aug 16, 2019
Happy Friday, everyone! Hope you’ve had a great week. I don’t know about you, but it seemed to just fly by. Honestly, this entire summer has felt that way. We’re just 56 days away from the Home Opener against the Ontario Reign… can you believe that?
I’d never wish summer away, but I’m getting excited for the upcoming season and what this team can accomplish. For a fourth straight year, the Barracuda are going to be one of the leagues youngest teams but what they lack in experience they won’t lack in talent. Oh boy, this group is going to be skilled!
Players are already starting to trickle into town so they can get some early work before training camp and rookies will report in early September in preparation for the 2019 Rookie Faceoff in Anaheim.
Hockey news this time of year is often light, and this week was no different, but something exciting came across the twitter-sphere yesterday. Solar4America Ice at San Jose, the official practice facility of the Barracuda and Sharks, melted the ice on its East Rink this summer and replaced its center-ice Sharks logo with a Barracuda logo. Now, the East Rink was already considered the Barracuda’s sheet of ice but seeing the logo for the first time gives it a sense of legitimacy. Combine the center-ice logo and Barracuda banners in the rafters and you’re building an identity and a visual brand. I think the players will enjoy seeing the logo on the ice, too. Stick taps to Jon Gustafson and the rest of the crew over at S4A at San Jose. Great work!
Now onto some personal news. The summer doesn’t usually allow me to stay in “broadcasting shape”, aside for a rare emcee event or preseason tune-up. But this summer is a little bit different. My older brother is getting married in Catalina next weekend and I’ve been asked to be the marriage aficionado. While I agreed to it almost immediately. There’s no doubt, I’m a little nervous. It’s a lot of pressure to be the aficionado and I don’t know the first thing about being a marriage minister (Don't worry, I'm studying). But I’m approaching it as a challenge. And I’m taking it as a compliment. It’s pretty cool to have a small but important rule in his wedding. Like most big brothers are, Tyler played a big role in my life as a youngster, including sparking my love for hockey. So, in a way, he deserves a lot of credit for where I’m at now. I'm also going to use it as an opportunity to start getting the broadcast part of my brain some early work. Wish me luck and I’ll let you know how it goes.
We’ll keep this week’s blog short and take you into the weekend with Ryan Carpenter’s decisive game-five shorthanded overtime winner in the 2017 Calder Cup playoffs. Why you ask? Because it’s the Barracuda’s 5th anniversary season coming up and that’s got to be one of the best moments in franchise history. And because I’m pumped hockey is almost back!